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Staying cool in crisis pays off in silver for Summerhill

By Chris Milliman
Published: Jan. 27, 2007
Summerhill killin' it in the sandbox
Summerhill killin' it in the sandbox
Photo: Chris Milliman

Danny Summerhill’s explosive second place at Saturday’s 2007 UCI Cyclo-cross Junior World Championships in Hooglede-Gits, Belgium, may be best remembered not for the 17-year-old’s raw talent in the four-up sprint but rather for his composure with two laps to go.

Sitting in the lead group of four on the penultimate lap, Summerhill washed out his front wheel on one of the course’s three slippery drop-offs. Coming completely off his bike, Summerhill hit his head and twisted his stem. But rather than panic, the two-time U.S. junior national champion showed poise, straightening his bars, remounting and methodically chasing back to the leaders.

Summerhill spoke to VeloNews right after receiving his silver medal, the first ‘cross world championships medal by an American since Walker Ferguson’s silver in the juniors in 2000.

VeloNews: It looked like that crash came at a bad time in the race.

Danny Summerhill: Yeah, but I’d thought about that even before I started. I’ve had such a lucky season as far as not crashing, besides on a training ride. And I didn’t think it would happen here but I just wondered. I wasn’t surprised, put it that way.

VN: You seemed comfortable to sit at the back of the front group all the way until the end.

DS: That’s what I was told to do for the last four days. So I kind of was just running through all the little talks we’ve had, trying to do everything I was told. Not working was one of them.

Payday
Payday
Photo: Chris Milliman

VN: Were you able to figure out who in that group was good at what, what each rider’s strength was?

DS: No, not really. Everyone was pretty much killing it on everything.

VN: What part of the riding did you go best on?

DS: I had my ups and downs in the sand but it was all actually pretty hard. There was no rhythm to settle into because it was so different out of every corner. It was fun, to say the least. I enjoyed the ride for the most part but quite truthfully I’ve been looking to get it over with for the past two weeks. Now that it is over it hasn’t really sunk in yet that it’s even over or the fact that I got a medal. Which is pretty interesting.

VN: Last weekend at the Hoogerheide World Cup, only one day off the plane, it looked like your legs hadn’t come around.

DS: I knew that race would happen like that, it’s happened the last three times I’ve come over to Europe. I used that and didn’t get bogged down in my head with it.

VN: You’ve been over to Belgium four times in the past 12 months. Does this result make all the trips to Belgium in the last year worth it?

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DS: I think so. Now a little break for me, definitely. My coach John Verheul and Ben Turner, I owe them so much. And the rest of the staff in Europe did so much for me too.

VN: When you crossed the finish you made a motion with your arms, it was hard to tell what it meant.

DS: It was just happiness, showing to everyone that didn’t believe American riders could do that, get a medal. I was coming across not with anger but maybe with some vindication. The U.S. is something to figure on in cyclo-cross.

VN: When you saw that nice long sprint did you know it was going to be good for you?

DS: No, I didn’t think about it all. I was thinking fourth or fifth would be awesome for me; winding up in a medal spot is that much more awesome. I was told to think about the sprint but it never crossed my mind. I was on autopilot in the last lap.

VN: Did it seem like just another race?

DS: It kinda did. My sleeping habits haven’t been so good, but as far as the race it was just like any of the others I’ve done over here. Same guys, same intensity, all that. That trip really helped, getting my head clear and seeing that it was a possibility to at least do well.

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